->''Dwarven Vow # 1: "Let's all work together for a peaceful world."''

''Tales of Symphonia'' is a 2003 video game, the fifth game in Namco's famous ''TalesSeries''. It is the third to ever be released outside of Japan and the [[NoExportForYou first in Europe]]. It stands as the third-top-selling game in the entire series, and was for a nearly a decade one of the few to break a million copies sold due to extensive worldwide sales (and was ''the'' best-seller internationally, natch), before ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'' [[http://www.siliconera.com/2014/12/11/bandai-namco-say-theyre-paying-attention-fans/ finally dethroned it]].

''Tales of Symphonia'' is set in the land of Sylvarant, whose LifeEnergy ({{mana}}) is being slowly drained away by the evil [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Desians]]. The only way to stop the Desians is the Journey of World Regeneration, a pilgrimage around the world taken by a [[TheChosenOne Chosen One]] that, when completed, will awaken the goddess Martel and save the world.

IdiotHero Lloyd Irving, after [[DoomedHometown some hometown-related complications]], sets out to protect his childhood friend and current Chosen One Colette Brunel on her Journey of World Regeneration. Aiding them is Lloyd's best friend and BrattyHalfPint Genis Sage, [[TheProfessor Lloyd's teacher]] and Genis' older sister Raine Sage, and a mysterious {{Badass}} [[AntiHero mercenary]] called Kratos Aurion.

After a few hours the storyline drops its first GutPunch on you, after which the plot expands exponentially from a single BlackAndWhiteMorality tale to a full-on GambitPileup, with multiple sides trying to manipulate or eliminate Colette for their own purposes, and Lloyd determined to do everything he can to protect her, even from herself.

Like many of its predecessors, ''Tales of Symphonia'' retained the real-time battle system, the use of [[HyperactiveMetabolism food as healing items]], the famous [[SummonMagic summon spirits]], and the games' general tendency to include lots of CharacterDevelopment, [[FantasticRacism themes of discrimination and alienation]], and a villain with considerably deeper motives than simply being AxCrazy and [[CardCarryingVillain openly evil]]. The game also contained numerous references to the first game in the series, ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'', which turned out to be because Symphonia is a {{Prequel}} set in the same world as Phantasia, a few thousand years before.

The game was adapted into three four-episode [[RPGAnime anime]] {{OVA}}s and 6 [[BonusMaterial omakes]]. A manga was published that covered the events of the first game and its ending becomes the first game's canon ending according to the second game (See ThirdOptionAdaptation below). There are also several [[AudioAdaptation Drama CDs]]. It's unlikely any of this will ever be officially translated to English, but fansubs of the [=OVA=]s are circulating around the Internet if you look. It places more emphasis on the relationship between Lloyd and Colette, and is obviously a CompressedAdaptation.

''Symphonia'' introduced several concepts to the franchise, most notably the 3D incarnation of the ''Tales''' signature battle system; nearly every single ''Tales'' game that followed in its wake (as well as a number of {{JRPG}}s in general) owes something to it, and its influence is still felt on the franchise to this day.

A spin-off-sequel for the game called ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'' (originally titled ''Knight of Ratatosk'' in Japan) was released for the Wii in 2008.

An [[UpdatedRerelease HD port of the PS2 version of the game titled "Tales of Symphonia: Chronicles"]] (or ''Tales of Symphonia: Unisonant Pack'' in Japan) for the PS3 containing Dual-Audio, new bonus cameo costumes, as well as an HD port of ''Dawn of the New World'' was released in 2014. Both games can also be bought separately through PlaystationNetwork.----

!!Provides examples of:%% Hidden comment: Please make sure your example is not already on the character sheet before adding. Thank you.

* AbandonedMine: Toize Valley Mine in Tethe'alla.* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Meltokio. When Zelos and co. are arrested the party uses this to continue to come and go from Meltokio. It has doors, trash compactors, stairs, and bridges.* AbusiveParents: ** In the {{OVA}}, Dirk beats up Lloyd because he used a exsphere to protect himself and Colette. Judging by how Dirk is characterized, and how Norman of ''PokemonSpecial'' got away with worse but was likewise still portrayed as a good father, this is probably a case of ValuesDissonance, rather than deliberately portraying Dirk as a bad father.** Zelos never had the nicest relationship with his mother, as she was forced into a loveless marriage, even though she "probably loved someone else." [[spoiler:When she's killed in an attack that was intended to kill Zelos, her last words to him were "You should never have been born".]] It's shown in the manga that even before this, she was cold and dismissive of her son, often making the excuse that she's ill or has a headache to get out of having to see him. No wonder he's so messed up...* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: During the scene at Hima, [[spoiler:when Colette is writing on his hand, Lloyd reads her words aloud at a ''much'' faster pace than her writing could possibly be deciphered. Of course, having him read it at a realistic pace would both kill off [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming the emotion of the scene]] and produce {{Narm}} of intolerable levels.]]* AcrophobicBird: ** Colette has wings and can fly, and will sometimes think to go check out high places that Lloyd can't reach - but never when it would actually be useful, like in most box-pushing puzzles, or a certain quest involving picking a fruit from the high branch of a tree.** Similarly, Sheena can call upon the Summon Spirits to aid her, and occasionally does so outside of battle to get certain PlotCoupons, but she'll never do so to help you get past those mandatory box puzzles, even when time is of the essence, or even save lives in certain cutscenes.* AddedAlliterativeAppeal:-->'''Lloyd''': Colette's current condition was caused by the Cruxis Crystal.* {{Adorkable}}: Lloyd, Colette, Genis, and sometimes Sheena.* AdventureRebuff: Lloyd wants to join Colette on the journey for world regeneration. All the adults think he will just get in the way, and Colette eventually tricks him into missing their leaving. It isn't until the [[DoomedHometown destruction of Iselia]], and later his escape from the Sylvarant Base, that he rejoins the others, who naturally expected that he'd show up.* AerithAndBob: There are names like Colette and Lloyd, as well as names like Mithos and Kratos.* TheAgeless: The angels. The Cruxis Crystals halts the aging process, which is why [[spoiler: Mithos Yggdrasil]] still looks more or less exactly the way he did 4000 years ago. Even Expheres slow the aging process considerably under certain circumstances, in addition to the basic skill upgrades they give. Presea even brings up the possibility of a world of Exsphere-preserved Immortals to Lloyd, who gently reminds her that they're PoweredByAForsakenChild.* AllThereInTheManual: Tales of Fandom Vol. 2 has skits that reveal the background of Yuan and Kratos: [[spoiler: before they became Mithos' companions, they were soldiers that fought on opposites side of the war in Symphonia's backstory.]]* AlternateWorldMap: Sylvarant and Tethe'alla are both visited by the heroes, with party members coming from both worlds. Eventually, the party gains the ability to travel freely between both worlds. (Incidentally, the worlds' names are [[ShoutOut references]] to the names of the moons of the world of ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'').* AnatomyOfTheSoul: Soul anatomy here seems to include Mind, Heart, and Life Energy, at the very least.* AndIMustScream:** Borderline - if one is killed while wearing a Cruxis Crystal or its infantile form, [[spoiler:the crystal absorbs the wearer's consciousness and slowly 'digests' it. The disembodied soul can interact with the outside world, so much as this is possible without a body]].** It's made clear that what happened to [[spoiler:Martel Yggdrasill]] due to her brother's desire to resurrect her, and what happens to [[spoiler:Colette after she "sacrifices her heart and memories"]] are true examples of this trope.** It's also shown that Marble and Clara have some form of consciousness, yet are unable to interact with anything for the most part.* AndManGrewProud: The Ancient Kharlan War, although sometimes it's treated as an actual historical event.* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Four out of a maximum of eight members can fight; [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Gnome when remarking that "you fight dirty" four-on-one... ignoring the fact that half of your party were apparently just standing there, staring dumbstruck, instead of making it eight-on-one.* ArtEvolution: The {{OVA}}'s started out great, but it just gets better with each one.* AssholeVictim: Before Ozette is destroyed, it's revealed that it was a town primarily of racist hicks anyway.* TheAtoner: Lloyd helps Colette partly to help atone for his part in Iselia's destruction. Later on, the party is joined by Regal, who embodies this trope. [[spoiler: Kratos]] is also revealed to be one.* AwesomeButImpractical: [[SummonMagic Summons]], Colette's Sacrifice spell, any of the Mystic Artes - Presea's Crimson Devestation (PS2 exclusive) is especially ridiculous, requiring her to be the only surviving party member and be below 16% HP, amongst other requirements.* AwesomeMcCoolname: [[spoiler: ''Mithos Yggdrasil.'']] Come on.** Zelos Wilder.* {{Badass}}: Kratos, Presea, and in the {{OVA}}s at least, Regal.** BadassAdorable: Presea.* BastardBastard: [[spoiler: The pope.]]* BeachEpisode: Well, cutscene, at least. In addition to gaining new titles and outfits, you also raise the RelationshipValues of whomever you choose to accompany you.* BeamSpam** JUDGEMENT !!!!!** RAY!!!** HOLY LANCE!!** PRISM SWORD!* BeastMan[=/=]LittleBitBeastly: Katz are a weird example of this, looking very much like people in cat suits ala Cat-Man from PerfectHairForever.** There's also the Penguinists and Penguiners, who look like people in penguin suits. And for a plant version, Mandragoras are just people with flowers growing out of their heads ([[TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld Dawn Of The New World]] makes them look more like monsters.)* BettyAndVeronica: The game's most strongly hinted at pairings for Lloyd is the sweet, blond Colette (Betty) and the tough, dark-haired Sheena (Veronica), though personality-wise, they're both mostly Betty.* BigDamnHeroes: This game is chock-full of this trope:** Kratos saving the party from Vidar at the beginning of the game.** The rest of the party saving Lloyd from Botta.** The whole party saving Palmacosta when Magnius tries to execute someone.** Sheena, at Kvar's Ranch.** Botta [[spoiler:saving the party from Yggdrasill and Kratos the first time you go to the Tower of Salvation.]]** Botta again, [[spoiler:saving the party ([[HeroicSacrifice at the price of his life]]) from Rodyle's flooding lair.]]** Mithos [[spoiler:summoning Aska]] to get the party out of a sealed chamber.** Yuan [[spoiler:helping to delay Kratos]].** Yuan, again, when [[spoiler:he shows up and tells the party of an alternate route into the Tower of Salvation's seed chamber.]]** The entire party [[spoiler:revealing that they survived and helping Lloyd defeat Pronyma.]]** Zelos [[spoiler:(or Kratos) reapplying Colette's key crest, giving Lloyd the last item he needs to wield the Eternal Sword and helping Lloyd defeat Yggdrasil.]]** Yuan [[spoiler:saving Kratos after the latter sacrifices all of his mana to release Origin's seal.]]* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Deconstructed. Lloyd believes the world works this way at first, and a large part of his CharacterDevelopment is learning to fight for actual ''reasons'' rather than just "because those guys are evil".* TheBlank: The Gentleman* BloodKnight: The Sword Dancer only seems to care about finding strong opponents to fight. It even lets you live if you lose to it.* BodyHorror: How does turning into a giant monster and attacking your loved ones sound to you? Made explicit in the anime, where Alicia's transformation looks ''exceedingly'' painful.* BonusBoss: ''Lots'' of them. There's the four fights against the Sword Dancer, Abyssion, Maxwell, the mid-boss and boss of Niflheim, the fights against [[VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny Garr/Woodrow]], [[VideoGame/TalesOfEternia Farah and Meredy]] in the Colosseum, a DuelBoss fight against [[spoiler: Seles]] (also in the Colosseum,) and another DuelBoss fight against Kuchinawa.* BonusDungeon: Niflheim* BonusMaterial: In addition to the OVA's, there are 6 omakes/bonuses. They all have NoFourthWall and are rather absurd.* BoobsOfSteel: Inverted. Sheena is the most well-endowed, but she's not the strongest fighter. Colette, a self-confessed "Ironing Board", is physically stronger and can be a better fighter. But the girl that takes the cake is [[TokenMiniMoe Presea]], who can lift logs and wield [[AnAxeToGrind Axes]] and [[DropTheHammer Hammers]] larger than she is, despite [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld looking like a twelve-year-old girl]]. * BoomerangBigot: The Pope is fiercely anti-half-elf even though he has a half-elf daughter. Though to be more accurate, he hates half-elves ''because'' his daughter is a half-elf; he used to support the cause of half-elf equality, and even fell in love with an elf. But when their daughter was born and her mother died, he found himself growing more hateful and terrified of her differences, coming to understand the perspective of the people who hated half-elves, and he started to support them instead.* BreakingTheFourthWall:** One skit involves Regal and Presea talking directly to the player.** The {{OVA}} bonuses', to the point of NoFourthWall.** Also, the famous Tower of Mana "Quick Jump" skit. To an extent, anyway.* BrilliantButLazy: Zelos.* BuffySpeak: Lloyd does this a ''lot'', usually to be corrected by Kratos or Raine.* CallBack: The entire scene in Flanoir could be seen as a CallBack to a similar scene in Phantasia, both happening just before the game's climax [[spoiler: or the last DiscOneFinalDungeon, in Symphonia's case.]]** Both Phantasia and Symphonia also have a special TowerOfDruaga-related title for collecting all of the TowerOfDruaga equipment (except in Symphonia you have to equip them all on Zelos to get it.)* CallingYourAttacks: All of them. Except for [[spoiler: Colette when she loses her voice]], using a special in combat will result in this trope.* CaptainErsatz: ** Maybe, but the similarities between Colette and Manga/{{Saikano}}'s Chise are high in number and down right creepy at times.** Colette and [[VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness Flonne]] are both flat-chested blondes who preach about love [[spoiler:and are angels]].** Ditto for Lloyd and [[SakuraWars Ichiro Ogami]]. It doesn't help that Kosuke Fujishima did the character designs for both.** Not to mention Zelos and [[Manga/{{Saiyuki}} Sha Gojyo]]. At least one particular version.* CensorshipBySpelling: Zelos calls Kratos an "arrogant SOB" at one point, although Sheena still chews him out for it, presumably since they were in front of Genis, Colette and Presea at the time.* CharacterDevelopment: Over the course of the game Lloyd learns not to see the world in BlackAndWhiteMorality, Colette learns to take the weight of the world on her shoulders, Regal and Sheena forgive themselves, Presea starts to move on with her life, Genis and Raine come to terms with [[spoiler: being Half-elves]] and Zelos learns how to trust the others [[spoiler:(Provided you let him)]].* CherryTapping: The player is given a special title for using only wooden swords until halfway through the journey of Regeneration.* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Lloyd and Colette, by {{Road Cone}}s. Depending on how you play the game, they may not end up together.* TheChosenOne: Taken to its literal extreme.* TheChosenZero: Colette and Zelos. In this case, the real question everyone should be asking is "who chose them?"* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: [[spoiler:Yuan, Kratos, Zelos, and Mithos.]] This has led to the rather appropriate observation that [[spoiler: 'There is no 'os' in trust.']]* ClimacticBattleResurrection: When assaulting the [[spoiler:Tower of Salvation in Tethe'alla]], every single member of your party [[spoiler:(except for Zelos, if you make him evil)]] ends up "dying" one by one... until you make it to the end and [[spoiler: they all pop up and inform you that they were saved.]]* CollectoroftheStrange: Koton.* ColorCodedElements: Red for fire, blue for water, green for wind, brown for earth, light blue for ice, purple for lightning, white for light, black for dark.* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: When fighting [[spoiler:Kratos, he has access to artes from both his Strike and Technical paths, (most glaring with Fierce Demon Fang (Strike) and Double Demon Fang (Technical), actually same-level upgrades of the ''same arte'') which is flat-out impossible for the player.]]* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Maybe if Colette had actually told everyone about [[spoiler:turning into a giant crystal, a lot of trouble could have been saved.]]* CompressedAdaptation: The biggest problem with the AnimatedAdaptation. Sylvarant, the first half of the game, was squeezed into ''four episodes.''* CrapsaccharineWorld: The bright, cutesy graphics do a great job of covering the dark, nightmarish story.* CreepyMonotone: Presea, at least until she's cured.* CriticalAnnoyance: Genis: "We're gonna die..."* CrystalDragonJesus: The Church of Martel, which has a very Catholic bent to it.* CulturalCrossReference: In the beach sidequest of the first game, the names of the four girls you're supposed to find easily remind you of a certain book series that is [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff beloved by the Japanese]]. [[spoiler:[[LittleWomen Amy, Jo, Beth, and Meg]] make cameo appearances. Seriously. Bonus points to Jo apparently being a {{Bokukko}} here, and having Amy be blonde]]* CurbStompBattle: ** In one of the {{OVA}}s, Sheena takes Lloyd down in [[OneHitKO one hit]] only to get owned by Kratos afterwords. [[spoiler: ''You do not mess with that man's son.'']]** Also in the {{OVA}}S: Zelos doesn't fare so well in his second battle with Regal, though he does manage to take him down with him via a LastDitchMove.* CuteBruiser: Presea, as well as Colette once she gains more angel abilities. She even lifts an unconscious Regal ''with one arm'' at one point.* CutScenePowerToTheMax: ** Kratos, in cutscenes, can kill, stun, or block pretty much anything with a dramatic flash of light and a [[SingleStrokeBattle single attack]]. In battle, he's not so hot. Also, all the characters with wings don't use them very often.** Not to mention the fact that a single Demon Fang from Lloyd can horribly wound Magnius and Mithos in a cutscene. A Fireball (or three) from Genis yields similar results.* DamnYouMuscleMemory: ** Going from a later game like ''Abyss'', ''Innocence'', or ''Vesperia'' to ''Symphonia'' can be really frustrating, because Symphonia predated free run.** In ''Symphonia'', by default, normal attacks are A (the middle/central/somewhat over-sized face button) and special abilities are B (the left face button) on the Gamecube controller. In ''Vesperia'', normal attacks are B (the right face button) and special abilities are A (the bottom face button) on the Xbox 360 controller. It helps though that both games allow you to customize your battle controls.** It also works in reverse, not only does playing this game make you forget about Free Run, but it also, especially if you played multiplayer, try to constantly attack bosses and try to overpower him to guard break as opposed to seeking out actual openings or weaknesses.* DamselInDistress: A few can be found here and there, mostly among the NPCs. [[spoiler: The character Lloyd pursues as his love interest/soulmate will be briefly hit with a DistressBall near the end, but it's not enough for said character to qualify for this trope.]]** Colette is kidnapped on two big occasions in the game, and the rest of the party must go through great lengths to rescue her both times. That said, she's quite capable the rest of the time.** Chocalate is kidnapped by the Desians early and taken to a nearby Human Ranch, then taken to another Ranch before you can rescue her. [[spoiler: The party is not able to rescue her until the end of Disc 1.]]** Princess Hilda is kidnapped by the Pope in one sidequest, but rescuing her is a cinch.** Kate is imprisoned by the Pope for helping the party, and is freed when one of the protagonists fights in the Coliseum to gain access to the dungeon. * DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Abyssion in the PS2 Version, when the difficulty is set to 'Mania'. So, now that you've got Nebilim's power, why don't you just throw your most powerful spells and be done with it? Guess what, he always begins with [[OhCrap Divine Judgement]], causing a TotalPartyKill to anyone unprepared, in the first two seconds of the fight.* DarkIsEdgy: Shadow, Pronyma.* DarkReprise: Zelos' and Colette's themes.* DeadCharacterWalking: Sheena's revival technique, Purgatory Seal, essentially creates a literal version of this: the game will treat you as "alive", but you have zero HitPoints, and you go down if you take any damage at all. Healing items and spells work on you as they do on any other living character.* DeconstructorFleet: ** Pretty much every main character, including the BigBad, is a {{Deconstruction}} of a standard RPG character archetype. It's particularly savage towards the idea of TheChosenOne and just what self-esteem issues a MessianicArchetype PuritySue could potentially end up with. It tears into the {{Determinator}} and IdiotHero tropes too.** Just to clarify a bit, being a stubborn idiot may have been the only thing that kept Lloyd going when a smarter person of the same upbringing would have been done, and his unflinching idealism lead to a major HeroicBSOD or two when he learned what was actually going on.** And as noted below, the BigBad is just as much of a {{Determinator}} as Lloyd is - his ideals just got compromised along the way.* DefeatMeansFriendship: Just about anyone you fight without killing.* DemBones: There are a few skeletal mooks here and there. And then there's the [[BonusBoss Sword Dancer]], who's a giant hulking [[MultiArmedAndDangerous four-armed skeletal swordsman.]]* {{Determinator}}: Half the damn cast, Lloyd being the primary culprit. It's also [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] with the BigBad, whose main character flaw is in many ways his inability to KnowWhenToFoldEm, something Lloyd does know.* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: ** The status page for characters includes both first and last names, [[spoiler:except for Regal. When Presea finds out that her sister was killed by a man called "Master Bryant", Regal's last name ''conveniently'' disappears. Regal is a self-declared murderer. Guess who he killed?]]** Sure, you ''can'' get to Palmacosta by taking a boat from Izoold... or, you can walk across a bridge in the other direction, and go through around the second continent in reverse order. You'll still end up visiting all of the major destinations and seeing all of the mandatory scenes, and the story will still make a modicum of sense. There's even some scenes that you can only see this way, and once you've [[LevelGrinding ground levels]] against the enemies on the "far" end of the continent and bought the good weapons, once you get back around to Palmacosta, every fight is a cakewalk (bar ''maybe'' [[ThatOneBoss Sylph]]).** You can actually recruit Sheena early. And there are scenes that only play if she's present at the time. ** After you make a summon pact with Undine, you can go make pacts with Efreet and Slyph as well. There's no in-story reason to do this, but it will unlock them as spells earlier and save you the trouble of going back for them later in the game when you need all the Summon Spirits. The bosses are even retuned to match your current level.** There's one sidequest early on in which Genis casts [[spoiler: Icicle to freeze a geyser so Lloyd can retrieve a statue]]. If you trigger the start of this event before he learns the spell in question, he will go "But... I don't know that kind of magic yet" and the party will decide to return to that event once he learns it. If you try to go to the event's location before learning the spell anyway, he'll go "I STILL don't know that spell yet!"** In one of the Houses of Salvation, there's an NPC who will immediately engage your screen character in a game of word chain if you talk to them. However, if you talk to this NPC as Colette during the brief period of time where [[spoiler:Colette has lost her voice]], the "conversation" will [[HilarityEnsues proceed exactly the way the player expects]]; the NPC will get mad at you and demand that you "[[SeriousBusiness play seriously.]]"* DinosaursAreDragons: The Dragon Rider and his noble steed, the [[strike:Velociraptor]] [[CallARabbitASmeerp Velocidragon]]. In fairness, it ''does'' breathe fire.* DirtyOldMan: Koton.* DiscOneFinalDungeon: First there's the [[spoiler:first]] visit to the Tower of Salvation in Sylvarant, then it's [[spoiler: the Second trip to the Tower of Salvation in Tethe'alla (the third trip to the tower overall)]]. And then after ''that'', it's [[spoiler:Torent Forest]].** In the Gamecube version, the literal DiscOneFinalDungeon is [[spoiler: [[WhereItAllBegan the Iselia Human Ranch]]]].* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: ** The human ranches are ''very'' similar to the Nazi concentration camps. Kvar also deserves special mention, as he draws many similarities with [[MadScientist Josef Mengele]].** And Regal is [[spoiler:The president of a major company, specializes in martial arts, and has a pretty dark past involving the death of an important person]]. How oddly [[Franchise/{{Batman}} familiar]]...* DoomedHometown** Iselia is burned by Desians and Lloyd is banished for being partially to blame for it.** Presea's hometown of Ozette is destroyed rather arbitrarily, Luin also becomes completely wrecked, and so does Heimdall... half the hometowns you go to wind up getting thrashed. To be quite honest, Luin was asking for it. That's what you get when your town's name can be written as Ruin. So was Ozette for being full of racist jerks.** Palmacosta.* DrowningMySorrows: ** Kratos and apparently Colette(?!) are seen doing this in the fourth OVA bonus, in mourning for their loss of lines/screen time. Yuan's there too though celebrating his increase in screentime.** Zelos also visits the bar later for the same reason.* DubNameChange: Genius or Genis? Refill or Raine? Shihna or Sheena? Regal Bryan or Regal Bryan'''t'''?* DumbIsGood: Lloyd and Colette are both rather dim-witted and seem much 'nicer' when compared to the smarter Genis, Raine and Kratos. To be fair, in Genis' case, he is pretty nice, yet for all the intellect he possesses, he's still one of the younger members of the cast, leading him to be quite [[BrattyHalfPint bratty at times]]. This usually doesn't sit well with his older sister, [[SternTeacher Raine]], as she still handles him with kid gloves by rectifying his occasional poor behavior with a slap across the head and the occasional spanking.* DummiedOut: [[http://tcrf.net/Tales_of_Symphonia_(GameCube)#Unused_Model There's an unused model of]] [[VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny Rutee Katrea]] in the game's coding. She was probably going to appear in the Coliseum Cameo battle along with Garr. The PS2 version and PS3 versions also have an unused "Meikuu Zanshouken[=/=]Dark Blade" arte name shout for Lloyd, the same Mystic Arte used by [[VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia Cress Albane]], hinting that Lloyd was probably going to receive an extra move along those lines as a tribute.* DeusExMachina [[spoiler: Lloyd suddenly sprouts wings at a very convenient time.]] Its not entirely implausible, [[spoiler:as Lloyd is Kratos' son, and the Angels get their wings because of their Cruxius Crystals, which are basically Exspheres, and the Desians repeatedly refer to Lloyd's Exsphere as being a super-special, one-of-a-kind, experimental Exsphere known as the ''Angelus'' Crystal. Getting unique angel wings was only to be expected, though it's unlikely the Desian who created it ever intended it to be used that way. Also, let's not forget the fact that Lloyd absorbed Mithos' Cruxis Crystal after killing him. Or that he WAS wielding the {{Sword of Plot Advancement}} at the time.]]* DurableDeathtrap* DysfunctionJunction* EasterEgg: Flanoir has a statue of Pac-Man beside its Bigfoot and Wonder Chef statues.* EscortMission: The Temple of Darkness features the party escorting five fragments of Shadow, the Summon Spirit of Darkness, to the bottom of the temple. [[ThatOneLevel Player hatred ensues]].* EmotionlessGirl: Presea. [[spoiler: She comes to her senses at the worst possible time, though...]] Also Colette, as she [[spoiler:begins to become an angel.]] Thankfully, [[spoiler: she gets better]].* EmotionsVsStoicism: Each of Lloyd's companions is driven by either emotions or logic; Lloyd's decisions impact relationship values based on which side he appeals to.* EmptyRoomPsych: In Welgaia, there is a building with five floors, each with two identical small rooms. All but one of them are completely barren, and it's on the first floor anyway, making the whole thing all the more [[BuffySpeak psyche-y]].* EternalEnglish: The fact that people from [[spoiler:Sylvarant and Tethe'alla]] still understand each other after 4000 years of near-complete separation is pretty amazing, they don't even have different ''accents''!** To be fair, [[spoiler: since both Cruxis and the Renegades are controlling both worlds behind the scenes, it makes sense that they would speak the same language in both worlds.]]* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: The Penguinist and Penguiner enemies.* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: For Zelos, anyway. Lloyd seems to have a crush on her, but Sheena mentions the princess annoys her.* PreciousPuppies: A sidequest involves naming all the dogs.* TheExile: Lloyd and Genis, due to being responsible for [[DoomedHometown Iselia's destruction]].* FakeDefector: [[spoiler:Zelos]], depending on your ending. Also [[spoiler:Kratos]], but he's much sneakier about it.* {{Fanservice}}: Sheena's alternate outfits (not that her default is particularly modest), as well as a visit to the beach ''and'' a hot spring. The massive amounts of ShipTease also count.* FanserviceExtra: Lyla, Aisha, the Coliseum receptionist, Tabatha, Cacao, Princess Hilda.** And on the men's side, Neil, Yuan, Aifreed.* FantasticRacism: The discrimination against half-elves is a recurring element in the series, as is the discrimination against humans in Sylverant.* {{Fauxshadow}}: [[spoiler:The character Genis]] is foreshadowed to betray you. [[spoiler: He doesn't.]]* FightInTheNude: Characters will only be shown using their most basic (and generic) weapons, with a few exceptions: Lloyd's model goes from wooden swords to basic metal swords after the second town. Kratos will equip the Flamberge after a certain event. Lloyd will have the [[spoiler:Material Blades]] after you earn them. Characters will also only use their most basic special attacks in cut scenes, because attacks are split across "Strike" and "Technical", and on top of that, you're allowed to delete known attacks, so it'll only show attacks that you can't not know. So expect to see a lot of Fireball, Demon Fang, and Force Field.* FiveSecondForeshadowing: The Meltokio sewers are a long, annoying level. The dev team noticed this, and allows the player to Quick Jump from the sewer grate to the manhole after the first pass through. [[spoiler:On the way to research Colette's Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium, the quick-jump deposits you at the bottom of the staircase where Regal and the other prisoners ambushed you.]]* FlatEarthAtheist: Weirdly enough, [[spoiler:Mithos]] is one - declaring that there is no goddess. The fact that [[spoiler:he was the one who set up the CorruptChurch]] may have something to do with it.* FloweryElizabethanEnglish: This is apparently a requirement for forging a pact with a Summon Spirit. Despite this, Luna is the only one that actually talks this way, while Gnome outright finds it annoying.* TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne: Elves and half-elves are able to detect the flow of mana. This allows them to use and sense magic, sense shifts and differences in the mana levels of both worlds, and distinguish between the different races, among other things.* {{Foreshadowing}}: ** Most of it is only obvious in hindsight. During subsequent playthroughs you'll probably wonder how you missed some of them. There's even some on the western box art. Notice how, of all characters, It's Lloyd/Colette and Sheena/Zelos that appear on the cover? (with Lloyd & Sheena being in front, and Zelos & Colette being in the back?) [[spoiler: Essentially, it's showing two Sylvaranti along with their, for all intents and purposes, Tethe'allan counterparts.]]** There's a reason why [[spoiler:Mithos and Colette]] look so similar.** Genis replies with hesitation whenever someone asks or wonders [[spoiler: what race he is]].** The opening narration is [[spoiler: Kratos']] voice. Hmm, I wonder why...** [[spoiler:Kratos being Lloyd's father]] is hinted at several times:*** In the beginning, he asks Lloyd [[spoiler:"Your name is Lloyd?"]]*** From the beginning, his moveset and fighting usability are very similar to [[spoiler: Lloyd's]].*** His interactions with Noishe.*** He gets uncharacteristically angry at [[spoiler:Kvar]] when he [[spoiler:insults Lloyd's parents. Not only does he kill the bastard before Lloyd can, the ensuing [[PunctuatedPounding Punctuated Sword Rain]] could arguably qualify as ExtremeMeleeRevenge.]]*** [[spoiler: Kratos]] stops the villagers in Hima from killing Clara, and supports the idea of trying to save her.*** [[spoiler: Pronyma and Yuan]] both notice a resemblance.*** Both dislike [[spoiler:tomatoes.]]*** Whenever the party goes back to Dirk's House, [[spoiler: Kratos will always be standing by Anna's grave.]]*** In battle, [[spoiler: Kratos uses First Aid on Lloyd]] way more than on anyone else.* ForGreatJustice* ForTheCelOfIt* FollowTheWhiteRabbit: The party finds their way through the Torent Forest by following a small animal that leads them along the correct path so they don't get lost.* GainaxEnding: Hoo boy. After defeating the final boss: [[spoiler:Lloyd remerges the worlds, and the Eternal Sword then vanishes. Then the Summon Spirits appear to tell them that the Seed and Derris Kharlan are leaving and the world is gonna quickly die of mana deprivation without them. The heroes think they're screwed without the Sword, but Lloyd needs to try to save the world anyway, and so his Exsphere reacts and he promptly ''sprouts angel wings'', of a completely different style compared to Colette's, and flies to the Seed along with Colette. When they reach the Seed, they think it's too late, but then the Eternal Sword randomly shows up again, and with its power they germinate the Seed.]]\\\\[[spoiler:As the Seed falls to Earth, Tabitha, the ArtificialHuman made as a failed attempt to create a mechanical vessel for Mithos's sister Martel, is standing in the ruins of the Tower, and the seed falls on top of her, opens up, and she's infused with a whole crapton of spirits we've never seen before, including Mithos's sister, and when Lloyd and Colette come down to earth, she introduces herself as the Goddess Martel, the Goddess that Mithos ''made up'' for his PathOfInspiration. She's made up of all those spirits, and is the new guardian of the new WorldTree. She shows the heroes what the Tree will look like when it's grown (which looks like the GameOver screen), and tells them that in its current state, it will die, so they have to give it happy thoughts or something, and Lloyd has to give it a new name. Then Lloyd goes "This tree's name is- * CREDITS* ]]\\\\The name thing is a bit of a joke. The game is a prequel to VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia, which features a Mana Tree, inhabited by the Goddess Martel, and is set thousands of years later. The name of the tree in that? Yggdrasil, same as the mythological tree and the villain of Symphonia. They didn't say it probably to be funny and/or keep from making the connection between the games even more obvious than it already was.\\\\All of this makes more sense on subsequent playthroughs, if you read the text a little closer. [[spoiler:One of Mithos' reasons for what he did was that, just as Martel would absorb the Great Seed if she was revived, the Great Seed would absorb her if it was sprouted. It's just that until the end, no one really understood what that ''meant''. The other spirits that joined her were the souls of the other Chosen Ones, who had died in Martel's name while trying to fuse with her soul, their souls instead absorbed into the Great Seed; the composite spirit of Martel and the Chosen Ones became not a true goddess, but the guardian spirit of the new mana tree, who happens to be named Martel because that's the dominant spirit. Lloyd's unusual wings are most likely because of his special Angelus Exsphere, which was noted as being unique throughout the game. As for the revival of the Seed, this one is harder to see, but after he destroys Mithos' crystal, the sparkling fragments of it flow into Lloyd's Exsphere. When he and Colette are then trying everything they can to revive the Seed, that same pattern of sparkles flows out in reverse - the remnants of Mithos' spirit, [[FridgeBrilliance seeking peace with his sister and contributing the final burst of mana that allows the Seed to revive.]]]]* {{Gainaxing}}: Visible on [[spoiler:Martel]] in the ending cutscene. Also, pick Sheena as your avatar character and run around.* GambitPileup: Let's just say there's a lot going on.* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: When Raine gets the Unicorn's Horn, and when Colette loses her voice. Not to mention a rather subtle one comes from when you notice Kratos's AI behaviour - he actually uses First Aid on Lloyd ''quite'' a bit.** When you enter the tournament [[spoiler:to free the imprisoned Kate]], the entrance fee is 5000 Gald, which comes out of your wallet. If you choose anyone except Presea or Zelos, Raine bribes the receptionist with ''another'' 5000 Gald, which ''also'' comes out of your wallet. If you choose Zelos, you get a preview of his "Masked Swordsman" outfit, and he doesn't pay ''anything''.* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Suffers pretty bad from it, considering how powerful the party becomes.* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In their attempts to approach a unicorn, Raine notes that only a pure maiden can approach it. Raine promptly excuses herself (because "I'm an adult") and elects Colette. Sheena becomes a bit upset that the party doesn't think she's "Qualified". Except for Lloyd and Genis who clearly haven't had TheTalk yet.* GlassCannon: Colette, Genis, and Sheena. Especially frustrating with Genis and Sheena, since their most powerful attacks rely on them getting into Overlimit first, which requires them to get hit at least a few times. Especially frustrating with Sheena, considering she has arguably the worst damage output otherwise. Even resident WhiteMage Raine can put up better numbers with attack magic. People rag on Sheena for this, but it seems a Justified trope considering that she might be a Guardian User/Magical Ninja, but she wasn't raised to be a fighter, and in fact one thing about making pacts that terrifies her [[spoiler: as well as the Volt incident]] is that they refuse to make a vow with her and attack.* GoThroughMe: Happens a couple of times with varying results.* GuideDangIt: ** Lots of moments, but the "Hard Path", the RelationshipValues, and the [[AwesomeButImpractical Mystic Artes]] get special notice.** Let's not forget the teleport maze at Palmacosta ranch, or, even worse with no guide, the specific donations necessary to [[spoiler: rebuild Luin]].** The side quests in general, and they are only available at certain points of the game and, after you complete specific events, they become LostForever. Especially annoying with small side quests which take place in places you normally wouldn't go, like [[spoiler:finding and curing Clara]], earning all the titles, and finding the relationship skits (since they're all on parts of the map where we'd normally have no reason to go).* HalfHumanHybrid: Half-elves.* HammerSpace: Seles's purse. Also: Colette has true HammerSpace, because her Pow Hammer-series spawn hammers out of nowhere.** Of course, Seles can pull a hammer twice the size of her body out of her purse.* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: ** [[spoiler:Kratos, Zelos and Yuan.]]** Also the heroes, from a certain perspective. Their ultimate goal is always "save the world," but pretty much every new piece of information about their situation radically alters what "save the world" even means, and how they plan to accomplish it, and sometimes whose toes are going to get stepped on in the process.* HeroSecretService: Above mentioned FiveManBand, and eventually also the rest of the party in regards to Lloyd.* HeroicSacrifice: Much to [[TheHero Lloyd's]] dismay, there's quite a few. Some end without people ending up dead. Others... don't.* HeyItsThatVoice: The English voice cast in a lot of ways embodies the transition period between popular 90's voice actors and voice actors who would become popular as the 00's went on. * HeWhoFightsMonsters: Forcystus runs a Human Ranch and looks down on humans as inferior beings like the rest of the Desians, he even thinks an appropriate punishment for breaking a non-agression pact is to pit Lloyd and Genis against [[spoiler: a mutated Marble]]. What made him join in the first place? He [[spoiler: fought and defeated an army of humans who were committing genocide against Half-Elves]]! It goes beyond that, even; [[spoiler:there's a ''brief'' hint, of the blink-and-you'll-miss-it variety, where it's insinuated that he was a companion of Spiritua, the first Chosen of Sylvarant, and the one who came closest to fulfilling Mithos' needs until Colette came along; after she "failed" in Mithos' true aim, the insinuation is that Forscystus joined Cruxis out of guilt.]]* HiddenElfVillage: Heimdall. There's also a [[{{Wutai}} hidden Japanese village]], Mizuho.** Also, Exire, home of the half-elves. Though not exactly hidden, it ''does'' float above cloud level.* HopelessBossFight: The game actually seems to throw ''two'' of these at you in a row [[spoiler: with Kratos and Yggdrasill]], but only the second one is hopeless. The first one is simply very, very hard, but not necessary to win (it's a lot easier if you use an All-Divide.)** The second fight against [[spoiler: Yggdrasill]] is hopeless as well. You're at a higher level than before, and thus able to fight on more even ground, but the fight still automatically ends after a certain point. Unlike the first fight, though, you're not allowed to lose this one.* HumanResources: [[spoiler:Exspheres]].* HundredPercentHeroismRating: If you save a town and then donate money to rebuild it, eventually the townspeople will put up statues of you and your party members. Although...you have to pay for the statues, too.* ImmuneToFlinching: The main perk of going into Overlimit. And of course, there's the fact that many bosses require multiple consecutive hits to stun. Presea and Regal can near-permanently gain this ability through the compound-ex skill, Glory.* ImpliedLoveInterest: In this game you can make Lloyd to hook up with several girls, but the romance [[NoHuggingNoKissing is never too explicit]].* InfinityPlusOneSword: All of the characters can earn one from the Meltokio Coliseum, though Regal's and Presea's lose out to certain weapons they can receive at level 80. Lloyd noticeably has two for his different attack stats; the Valkyrie Saber (earned in the Coliseum) for "Thrust", and the Kusanagi Blade for "Slash". * ImprobableWeaponUser: ** Genis uses a kendama, a ''children's toy''. Sheena uses cards with wards inscribed on them.** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] for Genis. The kendama is explicitly said to help the kid concentrate when he's casting.** Also justified for Sheena: She uses ofuda, which are used in Shinto. They're magic. Plus, she's a magic ninja.** If you equip the fancy clothes for Persea and Zelos they have a chance of using a giant stuffed bunny and flowers respectively.** The strongest weapons money can buy are {{Lethal Joke Item}}s. A mop, paper fans, a tambourine...* InexplicableTreasureChests* InterfaceSpoiler: Save on the world map, and your location is listed as [[spoiler:Field: Sylvarant]].* InvisibleToNormals: Presea and Abyssion are the only people out of a population of two whole planets who can hear Nebilim's voice.* IsItSomethingYouEat: --> "Professor, what's a philanderer? Is it something you eat?"-->[[DoubleEntendre "I don't think you'd want to eat one."]]* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: A lot. For both Colette and Zelos. This was one of the reasons this game was notable - it was when the TalesSeries started to ''really'' embrace this trope. * IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: A variant; implied to be the reason Kratos didn't reveal that [[spoiler: he was Lloyd's father.]]* KickTheDog: ** Each of the Desian Grand Cardinals has at least one of these, from Magnius snapping a bystander's neck for failing to address him as "LORD Magnius!" to Kvar's casual attitude towards the [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Exsphere "cultivation" process]].** [[spoiler:Colette]] gets a ''literal'' KickTheDog to demonstrate just how far gone her transformation has left her.* KidHero: ** Lloyd, Genis, Colette, as well as Mithos. [[spoiler: Presea is a subversion.]]** Although being 19, Sheena's still qualifies in Japan, where people are not considered an adult until age 20. A good reference to this is the ending of VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss** Actually subverted [[spoiler:with Presea]]* {{Kitsune}}: ** Corrine, a small, rainbow man-made summon spirit.** Verius, the summon spirit of heart. It is rainbow like Corrine, but much larger.* LampshadeHanging -->'''Yuan:''' "Like moths to the flame."-->'''Lloyd:''' "Do you ever say anything original?"** When you finally get the Ymir fruit, your avatar character will declare "That took forever!"* LeakedExperience: meaning you don't have to swap characters around if you don't want to.* {{Leitmotif}}: Every member of the party has one, including a few [[DarkReprise Dark Reprises]]. The BigBad and [[spoiler:Kratos]] also have their respective themes worked into their fight music.* LesserOfTwoEvils: In the first quarter of the game, Lloyd discovers that [[spoiler:Colette needs to sacrifice herself in order to fulfill her role as the Chosen]] and save the world. Lloyd must choose between saving the world and saving [[spoiler:Colette]], and begrudgingly chooses the world, at least until he uncovers a [[{{TakeAThirdOption}} Third Option]].* LethalChef: ** Raine. She has rather... Interesting ideas on cuisine, such as one skit where she wonders about making a spicy cake. Half of her recipes have lemon as an additional ingredient. And a skit in the sequel has her cooking "lemon rice" for the party. She can even fail at making a ''Bread Sandwich!'' Sheena also has weird ideas about food, but she knows ''which weird ideas work'' so she is still a good cook (one of the best three, in fact, along with Genis and Regal).** One of the funniest moments in the game involves Raine's cooking skills. In a small skit, the stone-faced, humorless stoic Kratos samples some of Raine's cooking to be polite. He even makes a gallant attempt at finding something nice to say about it ("Well, it has an interesting texture") before the aftertaste sets in and Kratos's first reaction is to use one of his healing spells ''on himself.'' It's funnier because [[TheComicallySerious it's Kratos]].--->Kratos: [[FacePalm "Ugh! First Aid!"]]** In an {{OVA}}, Raine's cooking is literally used as a weapon to kill Kratos...* LethalJokeItem: [[spoiler:After restoring Luin]], each character gets the ability to buy one of these; they are among the most powerful weapons you can buy for that character. Lloyd gets a PaperFanOfDoom, Colette a tambourine, Genis a toy kendama, Raine a mop, Sheena a wallet, Zelos/Kratos a [[BatterUp baseball bat]] or a pink plastic dagger, Presea a squeaky toy hammer, and Regal a pair of silver boots.* LimitedMoveArsenal* LostForever: See GuideDangIt. Many sidequests involve this.* LoveMartyr: Kate takes part in some less than moral experiments and [[spoiler:impersonates the Princess during the exchange for Zelos]], to earn the love of her father, [[spoiler:the Pope]].* LoveTriangle: Lloyd, Colette and Sheena.** Also, Lloyd, Sheena and Zelos.*** Subverted for Max, Lyla and Aifread. Max is in love with Lyla, who only ever talks about tracking down Aifread. [[spoiler: But she's not actually in love with him at all- Lyla's a LoanShark and Aifread, a pirate, owes her quite a bit of Gald...]]%% Hidden comment: The "Luke, I Am Your Father" example is already on the character sheet. We have character sheets for organization, it would be redundant and defeat the purpose for all the tropes there to also be here.* MalevolentArchitecture: Lampshaded at a few points.* {{Magitek}}: Used by the villains, and the source of quite a few problems as a result.* MasterOfNone: Kratos and Zelos. They don't really have that many techs to combo with, having only one full combo per tech tree side. Outside of a glitch using it for infinite combos, magic's casting times prevents it from synergising with melee. That's not to say, however, that they're bad characters. In fact, they're usually considered the best characters behind Raine and Colette.* MeaningfulName: Genis and Raine's Japanese names are Genius and Refill. Also, one of the towns razed by the Desians is named Luin (just remember the whole [[JapaneseRanguage L/R thing with the Japanese language.]])** Following the same naming traditions as Luin, there's also Exire, the floating city that's home to ostracized half-elves.* MediumAwareness: One skit has Lloyd complaining about why they have to climb through the Mana Tower again and that they should had just been given the "Quick Jump" option. Everyone else is confused as to what this "Quick Jump" is since Lloyd is apparently the only one who is mildly aware that they are in a video game.* MightyLumberjack: Presea Combatir is a female lumberjack. She [[OlderThanTheyLook looks about twelve years old]] but carries an axe bigger than some of your other party members.* MindScrew: Is that coffee hot or iced, Lloyd? To elaborate: [[spoiler: Lloyd is noticing Colette is acting more distant and odd, so he comes up with a mind screw in order to get her to reveal it. Lloyd offers to make coffee for Colette, and makes it hot. He only TELLS her it's iced, and she notes how cold it is after he says it. He then tells her that he lied to her and they talk about her distancing herself.]] This gets bonus points, of course, for being ''in character'' and intended, since the whole point [[spoiler:is to mind screw Colette into admitting that the angel transformation process is obliterating her humanity one step at a time and she isn't mentioning it to anyone]].* MissingMom: This game really doesn't like mothers. [[spoiler: Anna is dead, Colette's is never mentioned, Sheena's parents abandoned her and she has an adopted father, Genis and Raine's mother is mentally insane, Zelos' is dead, Presea's is dead and Regal's is never mentioned.]]* MoneySpider: Special mention for the dragon in the Temple of Earth, 10000 [[GlobalCurrency gald]] per kill, and is a [[RespawningEnemies respawning enemy]]. This is actually either a GoodBadBug that was "fixed" in the Japanese-only UpdatedRerelease for the PS2. It was only supposed to give 1000 gald, but an extra zero made its way into the code....** Even better is equipping a party member with a Blue Sephiran, an item that ''doubles'' gald received in battle, netting you a whopping 20000 Gald per dragon. One can quickly become a millionaire by simply climbing over a few dozen dragon corpses.* MotiveDecay: [[spoiler: After Martel rejects Mithos, he goes from wanting to bring about an (albeit twisted and unnatural) equality to the world to wanting a world where he can live with his sister, at the cost of leaving the world to die]].* MummiesAtTheDinnerTable: [[spoiler:Presea's father's body.]]* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: [[spoiler:Abyssion. Nothing good ever comes from an abyss. [[IncrediblyLamePun Except the]] [[VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss Tales of It]]]].* NeverMyFault: Lloyd is blamed for the destruction of Iselia even though ''it was Genis'' who wanted to go to the forbidden ranch in the first place, and Lloyd was the one who tried to talk him out of it. (Possibly because Lloyd was the main one caught on camera, and the mayor considers him an outsider because Dirk's house is not located in the village.) Genis even has the gall to get indignant with the townspeople for their entirely rational anger towards their homes being burned down because Lloyd and Genis violated their peace treaty. Of course, [[spoiler:at the time everyone thought that]] the Desians had struck first at the temple, so Genis has a point here.* NewGamePlus: The GRADE system, which allows you to purchase bonuses and even [[SelfImposedChallenge Self Imposed Challenges]] if you choose.* NoExportForYou: ** Averted after ''ten years'': The PS2 release of Tales of Symphonia was bundled with Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World for the PS3, complete with a graphical update, in the "Tales of Symphonia Chronicles" two-pack for North America and Europe.** None of the {{OVA}}s have been released outside of Japan. Fortunately, the fans have translated them.* NoFlowInCGI: Just compare the opening cinematic to actual gameplay footage.* NoHeroDiscount: Zig-Zagged. Shops will charge you, but certain events such as the dragon tours and trips to Thoda Geyser will not cost you anything since the people can't take money from the chosen. Yet, some people like the old man on Hakonesia Peak will still try to rip you off for a gate pass.** Also, you do get a 10% discount in shops if you have Regal's Personal EX-Skill set, as well as a 10% bonus when selling.* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler: In the {{OVA}}, Presea gives one to Regal, after she finds out he killed Alicia, her sister. She tells him to fight back, but he's just too guilt-ridden to do anything. She only stops when Alicia comes back for a few moments to tell her that Regal isn't to blame.]]* NonStandardSkillLearning: You can learn skills by getting further in the story, or using another skill a certain number of times.* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Kratos. [[spoiler:More wrong than you could imagine]].* NotSoDifferent: Dangerously so, in the case of [[spoiler:Mithos and Lloyd]].* NowWhereWasIGoingAgain: A log keeps track of various story events; incomplete quests are highlighted to remind you, though the way it's written tells you, at best, only what your objective is and not how to go about doing it.* NumericalHard: Applies to random battles, and most bosses. Latter bosses do get some new moves though.* OlderThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:Presea, Mithos, Yuan and Kratos]], for starters.* OnceIsNotEnough: [[spoiler: Yggdrasial dies in [[ThirdTimesTheCharm his third confrontation with the party]], and all that's left is his Cruxis Crystal. Genis picks it up, aware that his subconscious might still be inside (if what happened to Alicia was any indication) but wanted to wait until Lloyd used the Eternal Sword to reunite the worlds until doing so, to show him the new world he strived for. Turns out he manages to survive in the crystal and tries to [[GrandTheftMe take over Lloyd's body]] right after making the pact with Origin ([[RelationshipValues only for Lloyd's closest party member to take his place]]). Even after getting kicked out of that body during TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, he manages to recover his original body for the final battle(s).]]* OneSteveLimit: Subverted; the main reason the summoner mentioned by the various Summon Spirits, Mithos, is not thought to be the hero of legend is because it has become a common boy's name. [[spoiler: But then it gets played with later when it's revealed that said Mithos is not only the summoner and legendary hero, but also the game's BigBad.]]* OrphansPlotTrinket: Lloyd's Exsphere.* OurElvesAreBetter: And they're ''aliens''! Eventually deconstructed (like everything else in this game). Lloyd outright tells the elves that [[spoiler:their attitude directly led to Cruxis, and the elder even admits that they probably could have prevented everything if they weren't so passive.]]* ParentalAbandonment: All the main characters, except possibly Presea, Regal and Kratos, as well as the BigBad. If not for the fact that the game's inherent bias towards idealism means they all get over it, we'd have a DysfunctionJunction on our hands.* PathOfInspiration* PimpedOutDress:* PokemonSpeak: Presea in her Klonoa outfit. (She only does this in Altamira.)* PoorCommunicationKills: Several villagers died when Sheena was unable to form a pact with Volt, and she was ostracized for her failure, but because no one could directly communicate with Volt, they had no idea why it attacked them. It wasn't until Raine came along and could translate that Sheena could find out why Volt attacked.* PowerGivesYouWings: The strongest characters are all angels with translucent, multicolored wings. Yggdrasil even has wings ''on his wrists.''* PowerGlows: Both the angels with their [[PowerGivesYouWings glowing translucent colored wings]]. Also, Lloyd's "[[SwordOfPlotAdvancement ultimate weapon]]," the Material Blade.* PoweredByAForsakenChild: [[spoiler:Exspheres]]* PragmaticAdaptation: The OVA series gets this a lot, trying to fit entire portions of the storyline into four thirty-minute episodes every arc. While still very well-done, it becomes especially noticeable when Lloyd talks to Colette about their expanded party as if they'd interacted a lot more than seen on-screen--which they ''do'', as evidenced by a flashback earlier in the episode to Sheena and Zelos watching Lloyd at the forge, i.e. a scene unmentioned before said flashback--but since they can't afford to focus on these interactions longer than they do, it can lend to the feeling that there are episode-wide gaps between the strengthening of the party's bonds that the viewer is unfortunately unable to watch. Not that the studio working on the animation doesn't try and even succeed at times to lessen the gap throughout.* PrecursorHeroes: Mithos's party.* PredefinedMessages: All of the playable characters have in-battle quotes that they use in certain situations, such as being outmatched, using an ineffective attack, or being close to death.* PreExistingEncounters: The first ''Tales'' game to use this mechanic instead of RandomEncounters.* PrepareToDie: Sheena says this a lot as a villain, but since she's clumsy, it's ineffectual.* PrisonEpisode: This game had Lloyd, the main character, tossed into a Desian prison in the middle of the desert. [[spoiler:He busts out on his own, just before the party shows up... too late.]]* PunctuatedPounding: Actually punctuated slashing.-->'''Kratos''': FEEL THE PAIN! (slash!) OF THOSE INFERIOR BEINGS! (slash!) AS YOU BURN IN HELL!* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Lampshaded by Kratos in a skit found in the Triet area.-->'''Kratos:''' Other than the Chosen, our group doesn't look like one that's on a journey to save the world.* RedemptionDemotion: ** All party members gained through DefeatMeansFriendship.** Arguably, however, Sheena can eventually surpass both her boss incarnations statistics-wise.*** It also happens that Sheena's case is justified; all her fights involved her making use of seal Guardians, and she uses her last one shortly after joining the party.* RedHerring: Raine exhibits some menacing behaviour early on; an EvilLaugh is heard from offscreen with her {{Leitmotif}} playing in the background, and upon receiving a Key-Crested Exphere from Lloyd, her eyes light up. All of this leads only to the revelation that she is ''fascinated'' by ruins, ancient stuff, the like - NOT that she is going to betray you. [[spoiler:Which helps the way Kratos ''does'' betray you.]]* RedOniBlueOni: Fittingly to their hair colors, Kratos and Yuan. Although both have learned to act emotionless over the years.* RedStringOfFate: Colette's Necklace, the [[MacGuffin key item]]. It is from Lloyd to Colette, and it's literally tied with a Red String.* RelationshipValues: Raised and lowered according to your decisions. Colette, in particular, is almost impossible to shake off due to her role as the childhood friend. There are also skits scattered about the world map that raise your status with various characters depending whether or not you answer correctly, but you don't get punished if you choose the wrong answer.* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: The Renegades.* RingsOfDeath: Colette uses chakrams in combat. The fact that most of them are obviously magic may explain their boomerang abilities.* RoadCone: As expected, the official adaptations of the games make it clear that Lloyd/Colette is the main pairing.* TheRuntAtTheEnd: The fragments of Shadow in the Temple of Darkness have ''[[EscortMission horrendous]]'' pathing AI; invariably, when you have to take all five of them at once, this trope will result.* SaveBothWorlds: About 2/3 of the game is this trope.* SchizoTech: Justified in Sylvarant because the Desians have been stunting the technological advances of the rest of the world. Played straight in Tethe'alla which is mostly post-Renaissance in design, except for Sybak (which is a SteamPunk town) and Altamira (a modern resort town with skyscrapers and working elevators).* ScriptedBattle: The first HopelessBossFight against [[spoiler:Yggdrasil]] comes right after some other tough bosses, setting it up to be even more of a CurbStompBattle than its hopeless nature would imply.* SealedEvilInACan: The Desians. [[spoiler:Subverted once we learn what they're doing during the time they're supposedly "sealed away."]]* SecretShop: It's in [[spoiler:Luin, after you rebuild it]]. And they sell the strongest {{Lethal Joke Item}}s that money can buy.* SelfImposedChallenge: Invoked; several Titles exist as rewards for embarking on several common challenges, though most only require you to stick with them until various points on Disc 1, rather than the whole game.* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: The party briefly thinks about doing this, once they get ahold of the [[spoiler:Eternal Sword]], which has the power to transcend space and time. Lloyd decides against it, realizing that they don't have the right to tamper with time, especially considering the odds of messing this up even worse.* SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: Time and again, Lloyd and eventually the group proves that there's always a better way of solving the world's problems then just putting one in danger or forcing everyone to be the same. Essentially, they show that actually trying to do the right thing instead of what is necessary will actually change the world. * ShipTease: ** Done for every member of the party with the Flanoir cutscenes. The ones with Sheena and Colette are decidedly romantic (the creators obviously knew that people were going to ship regardless), and the other ones explore other types of affection.** Don't forget the Z-skits: One where Genis tells Lloyd to tell Colette he loves her and another where Lloyd, in his idiocy, makes Sheena think he's willing to marry her. ** Minor characters get ShipTease too; Harley and Aisha in Asgard, the supposed LoveTriangle between Lyla, Max and Aifreed, [[spoiler: Pronyma]] is implied to be an IgnoredEnamoredUnderling, etc.* ShoutOut: ** Several, such as the the snow statues of Namco characters like Pac-Man in the first game. The Tales developers gave one to themselves with the names of the worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, which are taken from the moons of ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia''[='=]s world.** Someone in the slums of Meltokio says that he heard there was a [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII cute flower girl somewhere in the slums]], but it turns out to be just a rumor.** Some of the equipment items are also shout outs. The [[OnePiece straw hat]], for example.** There is also a couple on one of the boats moored in Palmacosta. If you talk to them, the guy suggests he and the girl [[{{Titanic}} do that thing like in that movie]], at which point he tries to lift her up over the bow and she screams.** One side quest involves finding a woman's four daughters. Two of the daughter's names? [[LittleWomen Jo and Beth]].** Tethe'alla's capital Mel-tokio is named after the Japanese capital Tokyo. The mountain that is associated with Meltokio, Fooji Mountain or Mt. Fooji, is named after Mt. Fuji. Meltokio itself is very European themed however.** [[BonusBoss Abyssion]]'s physical appearance is an obvious reference to ''DragonBallZ''.** One of Zelos' titles, gained after wearing a full suit of golden armor, is a reference to [[TheTowerOfDruaga Gil]]; in fact a few games in the Tales series as well as other Namco titles reference The Tower of Druaga.* SiblingYinYang: Presea and [[spoiler: Alicia]].** Also, [[spoiler: Orochi and Kuchinawa. They are even ColorCodedForYourConvenience.]]* SideQuest: Oh so many. Waaaay too many.* SimilarSquad: Lampshaded with a little debate amongst the team about who their counterparts were.* SliceAndDiceSwordsmanship: Subverted with Lloyd's Twin Blade sets. All of them have separate statistics for "Slash" and "Thrust", which are usually uneven values, and there is even an InfinityMinusOneSword for both values; that doesn't stop him from slashing with a rapier or thrusting with a katana.* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: ''Very'' idealistic.* SnowMeansDeath: [[spoiler: Zelos's backstory, revealed in his Flanoir Doctor Scene, in which a very [[NightmareFuel vivid mental image of his mother's murder in the snow]] is left.]]* SnowMeansLove: The Flanoir doctor scene [[spoiler:[[RoadCone Shown in the intro]] with [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend Colette's respective scene]]]]. Subverted in that the scene wasn't exactly romantic... The conversation was mostly about Kratos.* SolveTheSoupCans: Many puzzles revolve around this; the most blatant example is the "quest" to obtain the Ymir Fruit. [[spoiler: To be specific: You have to change the Sorcerer's Ring to make a pig slam into a tree so that the tree drops a magic seed, which you plant, which then cause magic flowers to appear on the lily pads. Then you use one of the magic flowers on the lily pads to summon a fish that pushes a chest so you get a third magic seed. You plant this one, and then magic flowers sprout on branches. You jump onto the branches and summon a bird that takes you to a place where you shove a box into the water to make a bridge and to the other side of a rock you have to shatter with a pig-summon in order to clear a path for the fruit, which you have to get over via the box bridge. Then you use a pig to make the fruit fall into the water, summon a pig to hit a tree to drop worms to distract a bigger fish that would eat the fruit, then summon a smaller fish to push the fruit past the big fish, then summon more worms to push the fruit down so that a fish waiting on the next screen wouldn't eat it, then summon the fish to swim to the next screen, time the next fish summon so that the fish swims past yet another big fish, then the fish swims through the path you created by destroying that rock with the pigs, then finally, FINALLY, you can leap onto a lily pad to grab the fruit. Did I mention one of your characters can [[GameplayAndStorySegregation FLY?]]]]* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The spellings differ depending on whether it's the Japanese version or the English version. Collet[=/=]Colette, Shihna[=/=]Sheena, Ruin[=/=]Luin, Haima[=/=]Hima, Parumacosta[=/=]Palmacosta, Ascard[=/=]Asgard. (Japanese spelling first, then English.)* SpoilerOpening: How do you know [[spoiler:that Sheena is going to join the party and that Kratos will eventually face off with you? Simple; the cover shows Sheena, Lloyd and Zelos in fighting poses (with Colette just doing some Maiden Pose) and the trailer shows Sheena attacking and killing an enemy (like it does with all your other eventual allies) in addition to Lloyd drawing his swords in preparation for battle in response to Kratos stepping out of the shadows.]] [[SarcasmMode Subtle.]]** For a decidedly more subtle one, [[spoiler:you know that blonde haired angel who's back we see at the start of the intro? [[BigBad That isn't Colette.]]]]* StandingInTheHall: Lloyd; while ''sleeping at the same time''* StealthPun: The light seal is in the Tower of Mana, an old library. Why put the light seal in a library? Because [[spoiler: books are en''light''ening.]]* StepfordSmiler: [[spoiler: Zelos. Big time. See: His Flanoir scene, or the cutscene in which you kill him if you chose Kratos in Flanoir. Mithos, as a type C,]] might count, too, at least until TheReveal.* StoryBranchFavoritism: In Flanoir, [[spoiler:choosing to talk to Kratos instead of any other potential choice]] has far-reaching consequences for the rest of the game. Firstly, even getting the scene is a bit of a GuideDangIt, since you have to reject the three other characters that Lloyd has built up affection for (and even then, if your relationship with the GuideDangIt character wasn't high enough, the scene won't trigger). Secondly, [[spoiler:this turns Zelos's fake FaceHeelTurn into a real FaceHeelTurn, and you're forced to kill him in a boss battle]]. That causes major problems at the end of the game, since the character you abandon is required for a good number of endgame skits, cutscenes and sidequests, while the optional secret character has none. Thirdly, getting the secret character also [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking locks in Colette as Lloyd's soul mate]], which meant if you wanted to see Lloyd pair up with anyone else, you're out of luck.** And on top of all of this? It's non-canon. The sequel definitively shows that [[spoiler:Zelos is still alive]].* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Most of the characters turned into monsters by the expheres are women [[note]]Marble, Clara, [[spoiler:Alicia and Anna (Lloyd's mother)]][[/note]] with the only reason seeming to be to give the heroes some CharacterDevelopment and/or a DarkAndTroubledPast. Rodyle's an exception, but he is an evil JerkAss who does it [[EmergencyTransformation voluntarily]], whereas all the others were slaves at human ranches, so it's OK to leave him out.* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: ** You mean to say that [[spoiler:the surly angel who refused to explain anything and was interested only in his "daughter's" transformation into a soulless being, practically cackling when she was finally ready to do so,]] ''wasn't such a great guy after all?'' I'm shocked, I tell you.** Partially subverted by Colette, of all people. She admits that she figured out [[spoiler:Remiel was not truly her father]] pretty early on, but felt she still had no other option besides [[spoiler:completing the world restoration journey (which would still presumably save Sylverant]].** Nobody apart from Zelos seems to find it suspicious that they found [[spoiler:Mithos, the only survivor of Ozette being destroyed, who looks ''eerily'' like Colette, is a half-elf, can do magic, has some kind of magical flute and doesn't seem remotely injured or dirty (unlike Sheena was in Luin, ironically, Raine suspected that Sheena's situation was a trap) despite being trapped in a a huge forest fire.]]** Raine admits [[spoiler:She knew there was something suspicious about Kratos, especially his "surprising breadth of knowledge" regarding pacts, how he knew not to move Colette when she was suffering from Angel Toxicosis, etc. Unfortunately, she was unable to put her finger on exactly what that was until it was too late, and since Kratos was an important party member, they needed him with them to help protect Lloyd, Colette and Genis.]]* SueDonym: The main male cast does this in the [[AudioAdaptation drama CD]] ''Maid in Altamira,'' [[ItMakesSenseInContext where they dressed up as]] [[FrenchMaid maids]] in a Maid café. Lloyd becomes Lloydie, Zelos Zelda, Genis Ginny, Regal Regala, [[spoiler: and ''Kratos'' Kratty.]] Of course, the names don't keep them from running off the customers. * TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler:Repeatedly, in short succession,]] on Disk 2.* TechnoBabble: When opening the Seal of Fire Raine launches into one. She talks about how it's made of Polycarbonate and how that makes it magic resistant. [[GeniusBonus Anyone who's taken chemistry or wears glasses knows that Polycarbonate is a type of plastic.]] [[spoiler: It's also the first hint that this isn't a standard fantasy game.]] * TeleportSpam: ''HOLD STILL'', [[spoiler: Mithos!]] * TerseTalker: Shadow speaks mainly in one or two-word sentences.* ThemeNaming:** ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming: *** Kratos and Zelus (Zelos) are the names of two [[spoiler: winged]] Greek god bothers that were in the service of Zeus. The mythological Kratos is the personification of strength and power, whereas Zelus is the personification of dedication, emulation, eager rivalry, envy, jealousy, and zeal.*** Yggdrasill is the name of a WorldTree from NorseMythology.** Asgard is where the Norse gods hang out.* ThirdOptionAdaptation: The Manga's ending is canon.* TooManyBelts: Lloyd, Kratos and Forcystus all love 'em.* TraumaInn: One town has ''three'' as a result of being a tourist attraction, and they all charge different rates.* TrialBalloonQuestion: The Question is skipped however, with the answer being given straight.* TrojanPrisoner* TryNotToDie* TurnCoat: Several characters, but particularly [[spoiler:Yuan]], who alternates between trying to capture/kill Lloyd and co. and assisting them with alarming frequency.* TurnsRed:** Played straight by [[ThatOneBoss That One]] [[BonusBoss Bonus Boss]], Abyssion, who starts using attacks like Indignation Judgment and Meteor Storm when his HP is low, and subverted in the case that [[TheHero Lloyd]]'s [[LimitBreak Falcon's Crest]] becomes available to him only when his HP is lower than 16%, so it's the player character turning red.** Also, Genis and Sheena's strongest attacks can only be performed while in Overlimit- a Status Effect that is pretty much [[TurnsRed turning red]], but that can be activated through other means.** The [[UpdatedRerelease PS2 version ]] gives the player even more of these. Raine and Regal's Mystic Artes require Overlimit, as does one of Zelos'. Kratos' Mystic Arte requires his HP to be lower than 16%. One of Zelos' Mystic Artes requires him to have [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs less that 16% of his HP]] ''[[BreadEggsBreadedEggs and]]'' [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs be in Overlimit]]. The crowner goes to Presea, whose second Mystic Arte requires her to have less than 10% of her HP remaining while the rest of the party is KO'd.* TheUnchosenOne: It is Lloyd, not [[TheChosenOne Colette or Zelos]], who rallies everyone to save the world.* UnicornsAreSacred: Averted; even though you have to kill a Unicorn to get its horn to heal someone, the unicorn reveals that its death just means a new unicorn will be born elsewhere, so there is no "curse," nor is it an evil act, to kill a unicorn for a greater good. * TheUnintelligible: As per Tales custom, Volt is unable to speak normally (this time, just communicating with a series of [[VisibleSilence "..."]]s (which might also make him a [[TheSilentBob Silent Bob]].)* UpdatedRerelease: The PS2 version of the game had a few extra costumes for everyone as well as optional extra battles and even new moves for most of the cast, including Mystic Artes. For up to ten years, overseas players wouldn't be able to try these up until the HD rerelease in 2014.* {{Video Game 3D Leap}}: First game in the series to use 3D battles, although free-range 3D running didn't come until ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss''.* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Kilia changes voluntarily from some kind of purple monster-thing into a human child to infiltrate Dorr and back when fighting the group.* WellIntentionedExtremist: It's a TalesSeries game. Most of the villains, except the Grand Cardinals [[spoiler: except Forcystus, who was a half-elf hero who wanted to help his people]].* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler: After making pacts with all eight Summon Spirits, not only does nothing get better, but Palmacosta is destroyed. And discovering the existence of Tethe'alla is like this.]]* WhamLine: [[spoiler: "The hero Mithos Yggdrasill, his sister Martel, and their companions Kratos and Yuan."]]** To a lesser extent, [[spoiler: "''This'' world will be saved!"]]** "Release [[spoiler: Origin's seal, or your son dies.]]"* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Several characters abruptly vanish after their final scenes with no explanation; Kate disappears from Zelos' house and is never mentioned again if you complete the "save Princes Hilda" sidequest, if you heal Clara, she apparently just sits there in Izoold and is unaware Palmacosta is destroyed and her husband and daughter are dead, Exire never lands, Chocolat disappears after she's rescued from Iselia's ranch, etc.** Clara [[spoiler: becomes the new Governor-General of Palmacosta in the sequel, continuing to protect it like her husband did.]]* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Oh so much use of this. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] at one point.* WhiteAndGrayMorality: See WellIntentionedExtremist.* WingPull: ** [[spoiler: Lloyd and Kratos.]]** [[spoiler:Zelos]] as well, especially since [[spoiler:you only see them in the story path where you fight and kill him. Unless you're playing the PS2 or PS3 versions, where he also sprouts them for his Holy Binds LimitBreak.]]* WorldTree: The Tree of Mana, destroyed during the last magitek war. [[spoiler:A new one sprouts by the end of the game. As shown in ''Phantasia'', Lloyd named it 'Yggdrassil'.]]* WorldOfSilence* WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied: Kvar does this on Lloyd, regarding [[spoiler:his mother.]]* {{Wutai}}: Mizuho. It's even one of the classical names of Japan.* YouCanBarelyStand: During your first trip to the Tower of Salvation, [[spoiler:if you lose the fight against Kratos, you face Yggdrasill with 1 HP per character.]] Yggdrasill has 40,000 HP, and your attacks do practically nothing, though, [[HopelessBossFight the boss fight is hopeless]] either way.** This is said to Sheena word-for-word in the destroyed Luin.* YouMonster: A frequent reaction by the protagonists after witnessing the atrocities that the Desians commit. Kvar and Rodyle are the most common targets of this trope; the former even gets this from his own men.* YouShallNotPass: ** Used word-for-word by Regal during the endgame FinalBattle.** Also used by Forcystus when [[spoiler:the party assaults the Iselia Human Ranch in order to shut down its Mana Reactor before stopping the berserk Kharlan Tree.]]* ZeroGSpot: Referenced in a skit between Zelos and Lloyd, the latter of whom [[ChasteHero having no idea what the former's talking about]].* ZettaiRyouiki: Raine and Sheena's bonus outfits. Also Alicia.* ZipMode: the game often lets you "quick jump" through a dungeon you have already traversed when you have to go back to its final room for plot reasons. One time it simply doesn't happen. Lloyd gets amusingly frustrated about it in a rare moment of BreakingTheFourthWall.----